I think you are being a lil hard on him. 1914 was important but number one it does not matter because the wts says the date 1914 does not corelate to anything on earth. THe other part is conincidence that industrialization amplifies everything. Around 1914 people got industrialized faster than medicine could combat. So just like in the civil war the power for carnage became more than doctors can fight. As long as medicine is a step behind what is killing people then things will appear to get worse.
1914 Generation Doctrine on their Website
by Sirona 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Kenneson
Yes, please see what the Watch Tower was saying about 1914 in 1914--the Oct. 15 issue, page 307, article entitled "View from the Watch Tower." Russell actually believed that World War I was to be followed by Armageddon of worldwide anarchy ("fire"), which would eventually result in the Millennium. If he could see today he would be amazed that there there was no world wide anarchy leading to the Millennium. He probably would have resorted back to his days of skepticism.
Click on Watch Tower on left. Scroll down to the year 1914. Then click on Oct. 15.
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laurelin
I agree with Flash. 1914 is definitly a downturn date for things.
I think the the WTS has the right date, they just arrived at it in the wrong way.
I studied pre and post WW1 history for my A level exams (shows my age!) and it became quite apparant to me that things are worse now than they have ever been.
Amac said: No. I only see the average lifespans increasing. I see worldwide reporting that makes more people aware of all the atrocities...but I don't see anything to show that there are more atrocities.
I don't see this. We've seen more atrocities in less than 90 years than ever before. People have always been evil but not on such a scale. You can't say that the nuclear bombs dropped during the second world war has anything even remotely similar in comparison in years previous to 1914. Not even the Crusades comes close to size of devastation one bomb caused, let alone two. There has been nothing in previous history to even slightly compare to the damage and mass murder these caused (with or without worldwide media). Hitler doesn't have an equal to the amount of damage, murder etc he commited.
Average lifespans have increased somewhat, but for how long? Doctors now tell us that the generation growing up now have a shorter lifespan due to unhealthy eating habits and unhealthy lifestyles.
Worldwide reporting does bring it home to us... but history can't compare with what we've done in the 20th centuary.
I think this is where the answer to 1914 lies, it's not what happens; it's the scale it happens on. More people are affected than before. Yes, so the Black Death, Spanish Flu, Potato Famine to mention a few affected on a large scale, even worldwide in some cases, but even they can't compare with things like AIDs, Heart Disease and Famine that we have now.
We may have better lives in the developed countries and in this we can definitly bury our heads, but third world countries are worse off.
I watched Sports Relief the other night and cried to see a little four year old working in dangerous stone quarries 6 days out of 7. Tiny mites living on traffic islands. An eleven year old girl having to care for her entire family and work to mention but a few. I can't get the image out of my head from Comic relief a while back now of a four year old looking after her baby brother (two) who couldn't walk because his toes had been chewed off by rats. I'm quite sure that if we tried to tell these ones that they were better off than their ancestors we'd be locked up for insanity.
Especially considering Imperialism and the race for Africa and India caused these problems in the first place. These people today do not have better lives than their ancestors before they were "discovered" and given a "civilised" way of life while their guests stripped their lands and lives of everything remotely useable.
Imperialism had it's roots in the 1800's but the true damage has been done this century. We have the ability to send a man to the moon, make bombs, weapons and diseases but we can't feed or cure our own human family. And to some extent we can't even admit that it's our fault in the first place.
I think that the scriptures in 2 Tim 3 and Matthew 24 do point to our time and 1914 is the start of that time.
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garybuss
The "things" that have gotten worse since 1914 (or any date) need to be looked at through a microscope. Often claims are made based on just the human element of "things" like politics and crime. Those claims ignore elements of the human element like communication and entertainment and travel. I would like to see the rational, no spin argument that human travel has gotten worse since 1914.
I believe an objective evaluation of the facts confirm that the planet is active and evolving as usual and there are no real differences and none at all that can be linked to religious superstition in any rational way at all. I have made that personal evaluation and I am convinced earthquakes and volcanoes and floods are normal and natural and are not acts of some malevolent deity.
Primitive people looked for signs from their deity in the weather and in the hunting and in their crops. Modern people with a primitive outlook are still doing the same thing. Their outlook and explanations change nothing at all. All is well.
Ask about the animal element of "things". How are "things" in the animal world since 1914? Can any "signs" be identified by a rational observer?
What about "things" in the plant world since 1914? Any rocking news there?
It all looks to me like irrational fear of ghosts and gods and imagined subjective evaluation of human experiences result in a paranoid delusion reduced to a religious teaching printed on rotary presses. It all requires a sort of learned tolerance to accept it as reality. When we were there it all seemed real, like being in a movie theatre. When we got up and left, it all stayed there and to those still inside it all still seems real. Just like the people still inside of the movie theater. -
Black Man
I think the WTS is full of shit, but there is something to the 1914 thing. I was watching a documentary on the history channel and it was talking about the technology and weaponry used in the years before WW1 (1890-1913) and weaponry used during and after WW1 (1914-1918), and the technology and weaponry had advanced so much just in those few years. The level of cataclysm that took place in WW1 is also telling.
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lisaBObeesa
If my family and I lived in 1914..
....My husband would be dead because medical care available at the time would not have been able to save him when he fell and had a tramatic brain injury.
.....My son would be dead because medical care available at the time would not have been able to find the microscopic piece of extra skin that was killing him when he was 10 days old. And they wouldn't have been able to fix it if they had found it.
.....Maybe my mother would be unable to walk due to back pain....
So, I would be a widow taking care of my invalid mother, working for low pay as many hours as my empoyer wanted (because there was no 40 hour work week)...and my survivng 12 year old son would be forced to work (no federal child labor law)...and still we would be poor...
TODAY, as a lower income Americans, my whole family is alive, my kids go to school instead of to the factory or the mine, and we have clothes to wear and food to eat and this nifty computer hooked up to the internet!
I'll take TODAY over 1914, thanks.
-LisaBObeesa
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Flash
AMAC
I see worldwide reporting that makes more people aware of all the atrocities...
I think this is a popular misconception.
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johnny cip
FLASH I think you need to spend a few days in your local public library, and research famines, war , desease, earthquakes, etc over the last 500 years.
Thank you, but its not nessesary. It's funny, when I meet old HS buddies, how bad things have gotten in 30 years is the talk. One friend said 'When we had a problem with someone we used our fists...we didn't kill them!' And none of my HS friends is or was a Witness.my jw dad tried this on me 5 yrs ago . till i spend less than a week researching these wt teachings. poor dad had to call the police to get me out of the house , because i made him look like an uninformed FOOL
I'm sorry to hear this. He was probably concerned for you. Your father is convinced your life is in danger. ........................................................ XQsThiPoesI think you are being a lil hard on him...
Thanks, I don't think they're attacking though they just have strong beliefs...Like me.Around 1914 people got industrialized faster than medicine could combat.
Why do think that was? ....................................................... laurelinI studied pre and post WW1 history for my A level exams (shows my age!) and it became quite apparant to me that things are worse now than they have ever been. I think that the scriptures in 2 Tim 3 and Matthew 24 do point to our time and 1914 is the start of that time.
People today only know the present and the recent past for comparison. The fast pace of life today keeps them too preoccupied with the minutia to 'take note' of the changes. ......................................................... garybussIt all looks to me like irrational fear of ghosts and gods and imagined subjective evaluation of human experiences result in a paranoid delusion reduced to a religious teaching printed on rotary presses. It all requires a sort of learned tolerance to accept it as reality
I often wonder...all of us here once took God and the bible seriously. I understand the WTS's cult mentality has changed and damaged us, but does that mean we abandon our belief in God? .................................................. Black ManI think the WTS is full of shit, but there is something to the 1914 thing. I was watching a documentary on the history channel and it was talking about the technology and weaponry used in the years before WW1 (1890-1913) and weaponry used during and after WW1 (1914-1918), and the technology and weaponry had advanced so much just in those few years. The level of cataclysm that took place in WW1 is also telling.
Yes, for almost 6000 years mankind knowledge and technology was very small. In the last one hundred years knowledge and technology has exloded across the planet to an extreme! ....How??